An ordinance to approve or deny a tax abatement for a developer is expected to come before the Hillsborough Township Committee for its first public hearing in August.
The proposed tax abatement for a developer who seeks to construct affordable living units on Estelle Street and South 20th Street is scheduled to have its first public hearing at the township committee’s meeting on Aug. 13.
That meeting will start at 7:30 p.m. and will be held at the municipal building, 379 South Branch Road.
Concord Street Urban Renewal Associates, LP, filed an application with the township in seek of a 30-year tax abatement for an affordable housing project.
A tax abatement is defined as a reduction of taxes granted by a legislative body for a business or developer as an incentive to come to a township/city to develop or expand existing operations within the area.
The project proposes the construction of 88 total family rental units, 87 of which would be affordable housing units and one market rate unit in 13 two-story townhouses on property located on Estelle Street and South 20th Street.
Affordable housing is defined as housing that is sold or rented at below market rates to individuals and families whose income meets certain guidelines.
The developer also proposed that a portion of the property will be subdivided through a future subdivision application. The proposed subdivided land parcel is approximately 32 acres.
If approved by the committee members, the tax abatement would authorize a long-term tax abatement for the Concord affordable housing project.
The ordinance reads that Hillsborough Township Administrator Anthony Ferrera recommended that the committee members “favorably consider” the tax abatement sought through this application
“The relative benefits of this project outweigh any costs associated with this tax abatement and that without the tax abatement granted herein, the project would not be undertaken,” the ordinance reads.
The parcel of property pertaining to this ordinance is also known as the “Sherman Tract,” which is part of a redevelopment plan.
The redevelopment plan for the parcel has come before the planning board and the township committee multiple times this year.
At a February planning board meeting, officials said the purpose of the Sherman Redevelopment Plan is to establish new land use standards for what is known as the Sherman tract off Camplain Road.
The property is in a rehabilitation area to which the redevelopment plan refers. Officials explained there is a 65-acre tract that was purchased by the township in 2018 for the construction of affordable housing in an effort to meet Hillsborough’s court-imposed affordable housing obligation.
Officials said the goals of the redevelopment plan are to allow for the creative and flexible transformation of an underused tract into a productive and stabilizing development that will complement the surrounding residential neighborhoods and directly contribute to the production of affordable housing.
Officials also said the current objectives for the rehabilitation area are to: provide parcels of land of sufficient size and dimension to enable an orderly arrangement of new land uses; create land use and building requirements specific to the rehabilitation area that are sensitive to environmental features, particularly those associated with the Royce Brook and nearby residential uses; and curtail the encroachment of non-residential uses into the immediate neighborhood.
The Sherman property is framed by residential uses along Camplain Road and South 20th Street. Officials said the plan would prevent any industrial incursions into the residential neighborhood and require that all of the units constructed on the site meet low- and moderate-income affordability requirements.
